1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a home appliance networking system and method for controlling the same. More particularly the present invention relates to a home appliance networking system and a method for controlling the same, wherein, when a plurality of control commands are inputted to a specific one of a plurality of home appliances of a home networking system, the specific home appliance is controlled according to a latest one of the input control commands.
2. Description of the Related Art
A home networking system has recently become increasingly widely spread in which a network is constructed to transmit and receive data to/from a plurality of home appliances installed in a home or building and the plurality of home appliances are connected to the constructed network to be interoperable with one another.
Particularly, in a home appliance networking system, a user can not only recognize state (status or condition) information of a specific home appliance from any place inside of a home, but can also control the specific home appliance using a control system, such as a computer, from any place outside of the home. In this regard, the home appliance networking system has obtained favorable responses from many consumers, and has thus become more widespread in its application on an almost daily basis.
In order to construct the home appliance networking system as mentioned above, generally, an internal network composed of a power line or local area network (LAN) line is constructed in a home or building and a plurality of home appliances are connected to the constructed internal network to transmit and receive data to/from one another.
The plurality of home appliances connected to the internal network may generally be classified into an active type, such as an audio receiver, capable of transmitting control commands to other home appliances, and a passive type, such as a speaker, capable of being controlled according to a control command transmitted from an active home appliance.
However, an existing home appliance networking system including a plurality of active home appliances and a plurality of passive home appliances as stated above has a disadvantage in that, when the plurality of active home appliances input control commands into a specific one of the plurality of passive home appliances, the specific passive home appliance may be erroneously controlled.
In other words, as shown in FIG. 1, in the case where a user inputs a first control command through a first active home appliance A1 to set the level of water of a first passive home appliance P1, for example, a washing machine to xe2x80x98highxe2x80x99, the input first control command may not be transmitted to the first passive home appliance P1 due to a network error (1). If the first control command is not transmitted to the first passive home appliance P1, the user may input a second control command through a second active home appliance A2 to set the water level of the first passive home appliance P1 to xe2x80x98mediumxe2x80x99, and the input second control command may be transmitted to the first passive home appliance P1 (2). Upon receiving the second control command, the first passive home appliance is controlled according to the received second control command and then transmits an acknowledgement signal ACK to the second active home appliance (3).
At this time, the first active home appliance A1 may re-transmit the xe2x80x98highxe2x80x99 control command to the first passive home appliance P1 because of its reception of no ACK signal therefrom in responsive to the xe2x80x98highxe2x80x99 control command (4). Upon receiving the re-transmitted xe2x80x98highxe2x80x99 control command, the first passive home appliance P1 sets the water level to xe2x80x98high xe2x80x99 contrary to the user""s intention and then transmits the resulting ACK signal to the first active home appliance A1 (5). As a result, the first passive home appliance performs a erroneous operation contrary to the user""s intention.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a home appliance networking system and a method for controlling the same, wherein, when a plurality of control commands are input to an internal network for a home networking system through a plurality of active home appliances, an associated passive home appliance is controlled according to a latest input one of the control commands.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a home appliance networking system comprising: at least one passive home appliance associated with an identifying number assigned to a control command received over an internal network constructed for a home networking system. The passive home appliance is controlled according to the received control command on the basis of the identified number and sends notification information to the internal network to notify the internal network that it has been controlled according to the control command. The invention also includes at least one active home appliance that increases a number to be assigned to a control command to be transmitted to the passive home appliance in response to the notification information sent from the passive home appliance, assigns the increased number to the control command to be transmitted to the passive home appliance and transmits the resulting control command to the passive home appliance.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a home appliance networking system, comprising assigning, by an active home appliance, a number to a home appliance control command to be sent to an internal network of a home networking system, sending, by the active home appliance, the number-assigned control command to the internal network, identifying a passive home appliance, controllable according to the control command sent by the number assigned to the sent control command, determining, by the passive home appliance, based on the identified number whether the passive home appliance will be controlled according to the sent control command, controlling the passive home appliance according to the sent control command if it is determined that the passive home appliance will be controlled according to the sent control command, sending by the passive home appliance, notification information to the internal network to notify the internal network that the passive home appliance has been controlled according to the sent control command.